Cheats Movement hip-hop event promotes family vibe in Richmond

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RICHMOND, Va. — The Cheats Movement, a Richmond-based hip-hop and lifestyle blog, is bringing the noise with its first event of 2017.

“The Family Gathering” will take place at Gallery 5, on West Marshall Street, Saturday night, Feb. 4.

“We pride ourselves at The Cheats Movement on building a community and treating each other as family,” founder Marc Cheatham said when asked about the event’s name. “Whenever we get together this year in 2017, that’s our goal is to treat people like they’re family.”

Photo by Deon Tillman

The lineup, which features a variety of seasoned East Coast acts, seems to reflect the original goal that Cheatham (affectionately known in the Richmond music community as “Cheats”) wanted the website to accomplish when he started in 2011.

“I started it because there was a void in local media coverage, in regards to covering hip hop and urban culture,” Cheatham said. “I saw a lot of positive things coming out of the community, and it would never make the media, small screen or large-screen.”

Since then, The Cheats Movement has grown from a website to a multi-platform source for the Richmond hip-hop scene.

Several podcasts are now featured on the site that range from conversations with music veterans, showcasing tomorrow’s stars, as well as highlighting community issues.

Quarterly Cheats Movement events not only draw the best talent from the Richmond area, but industry vets such as Oddisee, AZ and Joe Budden have made appearances as well.

Noah O and DJ Mentos, whose project The Rain was ranked “Number One Hip Hop Album” by Style Weekly in their Best of 2016 issue, will be featured at the 10-act Family Gathering.

Other acts include Easalio, Royal Clutch, Tyler Wrighteous, Ryan Easter, SoLuH!, and Ra the MC.